The Certified Australian Angus BeefTM (CAABTM) licence agreement with Thomas Foods International (TFI) concluded on 31st December 2017. This marks the end of an era in the Australian beef industry and signifies the maturation of the growth of Angus beef brands in Australia.

“The CAAB brand has left an important legacy for the Australian industry and provided the blue-print and inspiration for the development of numerous proprietary Angus brands in the beef supply chain”, said Angus Australia CEO Dr Peter Parnell.

The Certified Australian Angus BeefTM brand (CAAB) was initially launched in 1995 after several years of development and testing during the mid-1990s. The brand, under the guidance of inaugural Chairman Mr Michael Pointer and a Board of passionate Angus breeders, was developed to provide a mechanism to assure the beef supply chain that beef sold as Angus was truly Angus and of the highest quality.

During the ensuing years, several processors took licences to produce and market CAAB product under the strict guidelines and specifications associated with the brand. This included Cargill Beef Australia (and it successor Teys Cargill Joint Venture), Stockyard Beef and more recently Thomas Foods International. During this period, most major beef processors in Australia also commenced the development of their own proprietary Angus brands. Consequently, the focus of Certified Angus Group Pty Ltd and Angus Australia has moved from being a brand owner to a quality assurance verifier of proprietary Angus brands for various processors in the industry.

Coinciding with the conclusion of CAABTM, the ISO9001 certified brand verification activities previously conducted by Certified Angus Group Pty Ltd has now been fully integrated into Angus Australia’s Commercial Supply Chain program under the management of Liz Pearson, Commercial Supply Chain Manager.

“The Angus Brand Verification program is already working with all major processors in the industry to verify their Angus production, and is providing independent Angus brand verification for numerous proprietary Angus brands. This list of proprietary Angus brands undergoing independent breed content verification by Angus Australia is expected to grow significantly over the next 12 months”, said Dr Parnell.

“Our market research strongly indicates that the notion of independent brand verification, conducted directly by the organisation that represents Angus breeders, has significant appeal for domestic and international consumers of Angus beef”, Dr Parnell said.

Angus Australia acknowledges the efforts of numerous Directors and staff responsible for the management of the CAAB brand over the past 30 years, including previous company CEO’s Mr Michael Pointer, Mr Phil Morley and Ms Kate Brabin; and the significant support given to the brand by various individuals and companies spanning the entire supply chain.

“Those individuals and the organisations who contributed to the success of the CAABTM brand over the past 30 years have left an important legacy for the industry through providing the blueprint for the production of quality assured and independently verified high quality beef production”, said Dr Parnell.